It seems you can't mention Aston's new DBS, star car of "Casino Royale," without also making reference to Her Majesty's secret servant. So there; obligatory 007 allusion done.Because we've previously revealed the particulars on the DBS (July 2007), the most potent Aston Martin production car ever, let's move right to the juicy stuff. Imagine, if you will, a La Perla negligee that goes 191 mph. Sex revealed in aluminum and carbon fiber. That's the DBS in a nutshell.

The big V-12 does its best work with all the subtlety of a U2 concert. Squeeze the throttle and the exhaust note detonates, a bi-valve front airbox cracks wide, cams whine; before you can say "hang on" you're into the rev limiter. The engine is 510-stallions strong but light-switch responsive and turbine smooth. Aston claims 0 to 62 mph in 4.3 seconds. Keeping the wild rush in check are gigantic Brembo carbon-ceramic brakes, six-piston calipers in front and four-piston in back, which improve stopping distances by 10 percent over the DB9, Aston says.

Despite a carbon-fiber hood, decklid, and front fenders (the rest of the body is crafted in aluminum), the DBS checks in at 3750 pounds (though that's about 140 pounds less than the DB9). This is a big, heavy coupe; on the winding roads around Cahors, France, the DBS felt more "GT" than "sports car." Yet with shocks and springs 50 percent stiffer than the DB9's, the ride borders on too firm for relaxed long-distance touring. And that's in comfort mode. Switch to sport, and the adaptive Bilsteins-which automatically switch among five different settings-remain in their stiffest position as often as the chassis computer's ride/handling algorithm allows. In compensation, grip level is quite high. In most turns, you'll run out of nerve before the PZeroes have even begun to speak up.

You have to wonder about the little things: The test car's nav display flickered like an old Philco, and the elaborate steel and sapphire "Emotion Control Unit" (aka, the key), which glides into the dash accompanied by a theatrical red glow, seems tailor-made for troubles.Yet even at about $265K, Aston will no doubt quickly move every one of the 500-700 DBSs it builds this model year (about a third are headed to the U.S.). After all, sex sells.